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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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11 


SPEECH 


OP 


MR.  WINTHROr,  OF  MASSACHIiSETTS, 


ON 


THE  OREGON    QUESTION. 


DELIVERED  IN 


THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES,  JAN.  3, 1846. 


WASHINGTON: 

J.  4  0.  S.  GIDEON;  PRINTERS. 
1846. 


•»     <1 


■I  Ji  »' 


Hi 


SPEECH. 


House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States,  January  3d,  1846. 

The  House  having  under  consideration  the  bill  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs, 
"  to  provide  for  raising  two  additional  regimento  of  riflemen,  and  for  other  purposes,"and 
the  question  being  upon  the  motion  to  commit  the  bill  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the 
State  of  the  Union,  and  Mr.  John  domcT  Adams  and  Mr.  C.  J.  Ingersoll,  and  others, 
having  addressed  the  House  at  length — 

Mr.  WINTHROP  obtained  the  floor,  and  proceeded  to  sdy,  that  he 
understood  the  Chair  to  have  decided  that,  upon  the  pending  motion  to  re- 
fer to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union  a  bill  for  rais- 
ing two  regiments  of  riflemen ,  the  whole  question  of  Oregon  was  open  to 
debate.  The  House,  too,  had  virtually  sanctioned  this  decision,  by  declin- 
ing to  sustain  the  previous  question  a  few  moments  since.  Mr.  W.  could 
not  altogether  agree  in  the  fitness  of  such  a  decision,  but  was  unwilling  to 
omit  the  opportunity  which  it  afforded  for  expressir  g  some  views  upon  the 
aubject. 

My  honorable  colleague  (Mr.  Adams)  in  his  ren  arks  yesterday,  and  the 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foveign  AflTairs  (Mr.  C.  J.  Ingersoll)  this 
morning,  have  alluded  to  the  course  pursued  by  them  last  year ,  and  have  told 
us  that  they  both  voted  for  giving  immediate  notice  to  Great  Britain  of  our  in- 
tention to  terminate,  at  the  earliest  day ,  what  has  been  called  the  convention 
of  joint  occupation.  Though  a  much  humbler  member  of  the  House,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  allude  to  the  fact  that  I  voted  against  that  proceeding  last  year, 
and  to  add  that  I  intend  to  do  so  now.  I  may  be  allowed  also  to  remind  the 
House  of  a  series  of  resolutions  upon  this  subject,  which  I  oflered  to  their 
consideration  some  days  ago.  I  know  not  whether  those  resolutions  will 
ever  emerge  from  the  pile  of  matter  under  which  they  now  lie  buried  upon 
your  table.  If  they  should,  however,  I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  1  shall 
not  propose  to  lay  them  aside  again  without  discussion.  Nothing  certainly 
was  further  from  my  purpose  in  oflTering  them  than  to  involve  this  House  in 
a  stormy  debate  about  peace  and  war.  Such  debates,  I  am  quite  sensible, 
are  of  most  injurious  influence  on  the  public  quiet  and  prosperity,  and  I  have 
no  disposition  to  render  myself  responsible  for  a  renewal  of  them.  I  desired 
only  then,  and  I  desire  only  now,  to  place  before  the  House  and  befiMre  the 
country,  before  it  is  too  late,  t^ome  plain  and  precise  opinions,  which  are  sin- 
cerely and  strongly  entertained  by  myself,  and  which  I  believe  to  be  no  less 
Btrongly  entertained  by  many  of  those  with  whom  I  am  politically  associated , 
in  regard  to  the  present  most  critical  state  of  our  foreign  relations. 

I  desire  to  do  this  on  many  accounts,  and  tp  do  it  without  delay.  An 
idea  seems  to  have  been  gaining  ground  in  some  quarters,  and  to  have  been 
gomewhat  industriously  propagated  in  all  quarters,  that  there  is  no  difference 
of  sentiment  in  this  House  in  reference  to  the  course  which  has  thus  far  been 
pursued,  or  which  seems  about  to  be  pursued  hereafter,  in  regard  to  this  un- 
fortunate Oregon  controversy.     Now,  sir,  upon  one  or  two  points  connected 


with  it, there  may  be  no  difference  of  opinion.  1  believe  there  is  none  upon 
the  point,  that  the  United  States  have  rights  in  Oregon  which  arc  not  to  be 
relinquished.  I  beheve  there  is  none  upon  the  point,  that,  if  the  controversy 
with  Great  Britain  should  result  in  war,  our  country,  and  the  rights  of  our 
country,  on  both  sides  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  are  to  be  maintained  and 
defended  with  all  the  power  and  all  the  vigor  we  possess.  I  believe  there 
is  none  either  upon  the  point,  that  such  is  the  state  of  this  controversy  at  the 
present  moment,  that  we  owe  it  to  ourselves,  as  guardians  of  the  public  safety^ 
to  bestow  someihing  more  than  the  ordinary  annual  attention — I  might  bet- 
ter say  the  ordinary  annual  inattention — upon  our  national  defences,  and  to 
place  our  country  in  a  posture  of  preparation  for  meeting  the  worst  conse- 
quences which  may  befall  it. 

So  far,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  believe  there  are  common  opinions,  united  thought* 
and  counsels,  in  both  branches  of  Congress,  and  indeed  throughout  the 
country,  without  distinction  of  party.  But  certainly  there  are  wide  differ- 
ences of  sentiment  among  ourselves  and  among  our  constituents,  upon  other 
no  less  interesting  and  substantial  points.  And  I  am  not  one  of  those  who 
believe  in  the  necessity ,  or  in  the  expediency,  of  concealing  these  differences  ► 
I  have  very  little  faith  in  the  hush  policy.  I  have  very  little  faith  in  the 
wisdom  of  keeping  up  an  appearance  of  entire  unanimity  upon  a  question 
like  this,  where  such  unanimity  does  not  exist,  for  the  sake  of  mere  stage 
effect,  and  with  a  view  of  making  a  more  profound  impression  upon  the  spec- 
tators. Every  body  understands  such  concerted  arrangements;  every  body 
sees  through  them,  whether  the  theatre  of  their  presentment  be  on  one  side 
of  the  Atlantic  or  tl  e  other. 

Because  Sir  Robcit  Peel  and  Lord  John  Russell,  and  Lord  Aberdeen  and 
Lord  Palmerston ,  thought  fit  to  unite  in  a  common  and  coincident  expression 
of  sentiment,  in  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  eight  or  nine  months ago^ 
during  the  well-remembered  debate  on  the  President's  inaugural  address,  I 
do  not  know — I  do  not  believe — that  the  people  of  the  United  States  were 
any  the  more  awed  from  the  maintenance  of  their  own  previous  views  and 
purposes  in  regard  to  Oregon,  than  if  these  distinguished  leaders  of  opposite 
parties  had  exhibited  something  less  of  dramatic  unity,  and  had  indulged 
rather  more  freely  in  those  diversities  of  sentiment  whicli  ordinarily  lend  in- 
terest to  their  discussions.  Nor  am  I  of  opinion,  on  the  other  hand,  that  a 
similar  course  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  is  to  have  any  material  influence  on 
the  action  of  the  British  Government .  I  hold,  at  any  rate,  that  it  is  better  for 
us  all  to  speak  our  own  minds, to  declare  our  own  honest  judgments,  and  to 
look  more  to  the  influence  of  our  remarks  upon  our  own  people  and  our  own 
poUcy,  than  upon  those  of  Great  Britain. 

I  may  add,  sir,  that  in  presenting  these  resolutions  at  the  earliest  oppor- 
tunity which  was  afforded  me,  I  was  actuated  by  the  desire  to  put  my  own 
views  upon  record,  before  the  returning  Steamers  should  bring  back  to  usr 
from  England  the  angry  recriminations  to  which  the  late  message  of  the 
President  may  not  improbably  give  occasion ,  and  before  the  passions  of  our 
people  were  inflamed  by  any  violent  outbreaks  of  British  feeling,  which  that 
document  is  so  likely  to  excite. 

I  am  perfectly  aware,  Mr.  Speaker,  that,  express  the  views  which  1  en- 
tertain when  I  may,  I  shall  not  escape  reproach  and  imputation  from  some 
quarters  of  the  House.  1  know  that  there  are  those  by  whom  the  slightest 
unliable  of  dissent  from  the  extreme  views  which  the  Administration  woulcb 


seem  recently  to  have  adopted,  will  be  eagerly  seized  upon  as  evidence  of  a 
want  of  what  they  call  patriotism  and  American  spirit.  I  spurn  all  such 
imputations  in  advance.  1  spurn  the  notion  that  patriotism  can  only  be 
manifested  by  plunging  the  nation  into  war,  or  that  the  love  of  one's  own 
■country  can  only  be  measured  by  one's  hatred  to  any  other  country.  Sir, 
the  American  spirit  that  is  wanted  at  the  present  moment,  wanted  for  our 
highest  honor,  wanted  for  our  dearest  interests  is  that  which  dares  to  con- 
front the  mad  impulses  of  a  superficial  popular  sentiment,  and  to  appeal  to 
the  sober  second  thoughts  of  moral  and  intelligent  men .  Every  schoolboy 
can  declaim  about  honor  and  war,  the  British  lion  and  the  American  eagle; 
■and  it  is  a  vice  of  our  nature  that  the  calmest  of  us  have  heart-strings  which 
may  vibiate  for  a  moment  even  to  such  vulgar  touches.  But,  (thanks  to 
the  institutions  of  education  and  religion  which  our  fathers  founded),  the 
great  mass  of  vhe  American  people  have  also,  an  intelligence  and  a  moral 
sense  which  will  sooner  or  later  respond  to  appeals  of  a  higher  and  nobler 
sort,  if  we  will  only  have  the  firmness  to  make  them.  It  was  a  remark  of 
an  old  English  courtier,  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  to  one  who  threatened  to 
take  the  sense  of  the  people  on  some  important  question,  that  he  would  take 
the  tionsense  of  the  people  and  beat  him  twenty  to  one.  And  it  might  have 
been  something  better  than  a  good  joke  in  relation  to  the  people  of  England 
At  the  time  it  was  uttered.  But  I  am  not  ready  to  regard  it  as  applicable  to 
our  own  intelligent  and  educated  American  people  at  the  present  day.  Au 
appeal  to  the  nonsense  of  the  American  people  may  succeed  for  an  hour; 
but  the  stern  sense  of  the  country  will  soon  re-assert  itself,  and  will  carry 
the  day  in  the  end. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  there  are  other  reproaches,  beside  those  of  my  oppo- 
nents, to  which  I  may  be  thought  to  subject  myself,  by  the  formal  pronml- 
gation  of  the  views  which  I  entertain  on  this  subject.  It  has  been  said,  it 
some  quarters,  that  it  was  not  good  party  policy  to  avow  such  doctrines; 
that  the  friends  of  the  Administration  desire  nothing  so  much  as  an  excuse 
for  branding  the  Whigs  of  the  Union  as  the  Peace  party;  and  that  the  only 
course  for  us  in  the  minority  to  pursue,  is  to  brag  about  our  readiness  for 
war  with  those  that  brgg  loudest.  Now,  I  am  entirely  sensible  that  if  an 
•opponent  of  the  present  Administration  were  willing  to  make  a  mere  party 
instrument  of  this  Oregon  negotiation,  he  might  find  in  its  most  recent  his- 
tory the  amplest  materials,  for  throwing  back  upon  the  majority  in  this  House 
the  imputations,  in  which  they  hAve  been  heretofore  so  leady  to  indulge. 
How  easy  and  obvious  it  would  be  for  us  to  ask,  where,  where  was  the  he- 
roic determination  of  the  Executive  to  vindicate  our  title  to  the  tchole  of  Or- 
•egon — yes,  sir,  '''the  whole  or  nonk" — when  a  deliberate  offer  of  more 
than  five  degrees  of  latitude  was  recently  made  to  Great  Britain?  Made, 
too,  at  a  moment  when  the  Piesident  and  his  Secretary  of  State  tell  you 
that  they  firmly  believed  that  our  right  to  the  whole  was  clear  and  unques- 
tionable !  How  easy  it  would  be  to  taunt  the  Secretary  of  State  with  the 
policy  he  has  pursued  in  his  correspondence,  of  keeping  back  those  convin- 
-cing  arguments  upon  which  he  now  relies  to  justify  him  in  claiming  the 
whole  of  this  disputed  territory,  until  his  last  letter — until  he  had  tried  in 
vain  to  induce  Great  Britain  to  accept  a  large  part  of  (his  territory — as  if  he 
were  afraid  to  let  even  his  own  country  undei-stand  how  good  our  title 
really  was,  in  case  he  could  succeed  in  effecting  a  compromise ! 

For  myself,  however,  I  utterly  repudiate  all  idea  of  party  obligations  oc 


party  views  in  connexion  with  tliis  question.  I  scorn  the  suggestion  that 
the  peace  of  my  country  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere  pawn  on  the  political 
ehessboard,  to  be  perilled  for  any  mere  party  triumph .  We  have  seen  enough 
of  the  mischief  of  mingling  such  questions  with  party  politics.  We  see  it 
at  this  moment.  It  has  been  openly  avowed  elsewhere,  and  was  repeated 
by  the  honorable  member  from  Illinois  (Mr.  Douglass)  in  this  House  yes- 
terday, that  Oregon  and  Texas  were  born  and  cradled  together  in  the  Bal- 
timore convention;  (hat  they  were  the  twin  offspring  of  that  political  con- 
clave; and  in  that  avowal  may  be  found  the  whole  explanation  of  the  dif- 
ficulties and  dangers  with  which  the  question  is  now  attended. 

I  honor  the  Administration,  Mr.  Speaker,  for  whatever  spirit  of  concilia- 
tion, compromise,  and  peace,  it  has  hitherto  manifested  on  this  subject, and 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying  so.  If  1  have  anything  to  reproach  them 
■with,  or  taunt  them  for,  it  is  for  what  appears  to  me  as  an  unreasonable 
and  precipitate  abandonment  of  that  spirit.  And  if  anybody  desires  on 
this  account,  or  any  other  account,  to  brand  me  as  a  member  of  the  Peace 
party,  I  bare  my  bosom,  I  hold  out  both  my  hands,  to  receive  that  brand. 
I  am  willing  to  take  ils  first  and  deepest  impression,  while  the  iron  is  sharp- 
est and  hottest.  If  there  be  anything  of  shame  in  such  a  brand,  I  certain- 
ly glory  in  my  shame.  As  Ciceio  said,  in  contemplation  of  any  odium 
which  might  attach  to  Inm  for  dealing  in  too  severe  or  siunmary  a  manner 
with  Catiline,  "jGo  animo  semper  fui ,  ut  invidiam  virtute  partam j  glo- 
riam,  non  invidiam ,  putar em  !^ 

But  who,  who  is  willing  to  bear  the  brand  of  being  a  member  of  the 
war  party?    Who  will  submit  to  have  that  Cain-mark  stamped  upon  his 
brow?     1  thank  Heaven  that  all  men,  on  all  sides,  have  thus  far  refused  to 
wear  it.     No  man,  of  ever  so  extreme  opinions,  has  ventured  yet  to  speak 
upon  this  question  without  protesting,  in  the  roundest  terms,  that  he  was 
for  peace.    Even  the  honorable  member  from  Illinois,  (Mr.  Douglass,) 
who  was  for  giving  the  notice  to  quit  at  the  earliest  day,  and  for  proceeding 
at  once  to  build  foris  and  stockades,  and  for  asserting  an  exclusive  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  whole  Oregon  Territory  at  the   very  instant  at  which  the 
twelve  months  should  expire,  was  as  stout  as  any  of  us  for  preserving 
peace.     My  venerable  colleague,  (Mr.  Adams,)  too,  from  whom  I  always 
differ  with  great  regret,  but,differing  from  whom  on  the  present  occasion,  I 
conform  not  more  to  my  own  conscientious  judgment  than  to  the  opinions 
of  my  constituents,  and  of  a  great  majoi;ity  of  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts, as  1  understand  them — he,  too,  1  an»  sure,  even  in  that  very  tor- 
rent of  eloquent  indignation    which  cost  us  for  a  moment  the  order 
and  dignity  of  the  House,  could  have  had  nothing  but  the  peace  of  the 
countiy  at  heart.     So  far  as  peace,  then,  is  concerned,  it  seems  that  we  are 
all  agreed.    "Only  it  must  be  an  honorable  peace  ;"  that,  I  think,  is  the 
stereotyped  phrase  of  the  day:  and  all  our  differences  arc  thus  reduced  to 
the  question.  What  constitutes  an  honorable  peace? 

Undoubtedly,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  answer  to  this  question  must  depend  upon 
the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  case  to  which  it  is  applied .  Yet,  I  will  not 
pass  to  the  consideration  of  that  case  without  putting  the  burden  of  proof  where 
it  belongs.  Peace,  sir ,  in  itself,  in  its  own  nature,  and  of  its  own  original  es- 
sence, is  honorable.  No  individual,  no  nation,  can  lay  a  higher  claim  to 
the  honor  of  man  or  the  blessing  of  Heaven  than  to  seek  peace  and  ensue 
it.  Louis  Philippe  may  envy  no  monument  which  ever  covered  human 
dust;  if  it  mc«y  jnsily  bi  inscribed  on  his  tombstone;  (as  has  recently  beea 


sugi 

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suggested) ,  that ,  while  he  lived ,  the  peace  of  Europe  was  secure  !  And ,  oa 
the  other  hand,  war,  in  its  proper  character,  is  disgraceful;  and  the  man  or 
the  country  w^hich  shall  wilfully  and  wantonly  provoke  it,  deserves  the  ex-^ 
ecrations  of  earth  and  Heaven.  These,  Mr.  Speaker,  are  the  general  prin* 
cipl(><«  which  civilization  and  Christianity  have  at  length  engrafted  upon  th» 
public  code  of  Christendom.  If  there  be  exceptions  to  them,  as  I  do  not 
deny  there  are,  they  are  to  be  proved  specially  by  those  who  allege  them^ 
Is  there,  then,  anything  in  the  Oregon  controversy,  as  it  now  stands  before 
us,  which  furnishes  an  exception  to  these  general  principles? — anything 
which  would  render  a  pacific  policy  discreditable,  or  which  would  invest 
war  with  any  degree  of  true  honor?  I  deny  it  altogether.  I  reiterate  the 
propositions  of  the  resolutions  on  your  table.     I  maintain — 

1.  That  this  question,  from  its  very  nature,  is  peculiarly  and  eminently 
one  for  negotiation,  compromise,  and  amicable  adjustment. 

2.  That  satisfactory  evidence  has  not  yet  been  afforded  that  no  compro- 
mise which  the  United  States  ought  to  accept  can  be  effected . 

3.  That,  if  no  other  mode  of  amicable  settlement  remains,  arbitratioa 
ought  to  be  resorted  to;  and  that  this  Government  cannot  relieve  itself  from 
its  responsibility  to  maintain  the  peace  of  the  countiy  while  arbitration  is 
still  untried. 

I  perceive,  sir,  that  the  brief  time  allowed  us  in  debate  will  compel  me 
to  deal  in  the  most  summaiy  way  with  these  propositions,  and  that  I  must 
look  to  other  opportunities  for  doing  full  justice  either  to  them  or  to  myself. 
Let  me  hasten,  however,  to  do  them  what  justice  I  may. 

There  are  three  distinct  views  in  which  this  question  may  be  presented, 
as  one  peculiarly  for  negotiation  and  compromise.  In  the  first  place,  there 
is  the  character  of  the  subject  matter  of  the  controversy.  Unquestionably 
there  may  be  rights  and  claims  not  of  a  nature  to  admit  of  compromise, 
and  as  to  which  there  must  be  absolute  and  unconditional  relinquishment 
on  one  side  or  the  other,  or  a  confiict  is  inevitable.  I  may  allude  to  the 
impressment  of  our  seamen  as  an  example — a  practice  which  could  not  be 
renewed  by  Great  Britain  at  any  moment,  or  under  any  circumstances, 
without  producing  immediate  hostilities.  But  here  we  have  as  the  bone  of 
our  contention,  a  vast  and  vacant  territory,  thousands  of  miles  distant  from 
both  countries,  entirely  capable  of  division,  and  the  loss  of  any  part,  I  liad 
almost  said  of  the  whole,  of  which,  would  not  be  of  the  smallest  practical 
moment  to  either  of  them — a  territory  the  sovereignty  of  which  might  re- 
main in  abeyance  for  a  half  century  longer  without  serious  inconvenience 
or  detiiment  to  anybody,  and  in  reference  to  which  there  is  certainly  not 
the  slightest  pretence  of  a  necessity  for  summary  or  precipitate  action.  We 
need  ports  on  the  Pacific.  As  to  land,  we  have  millions  of  acres  of  better 
land  still  unoccupied  on  this  side  of  the  mountains.  What  a  spectacle  it 
would  be,  in  the  sight  of  men  and  angels,  for  the  two  countries  which 
claim  to  have  made  the  greatest  advances  in  civilization  and  Christianity, 
and  which  are  bound  together  by  so  many  ties  of  nature  and  art,  of  kin- 
dred and  of  commerce,  each  of  them  with  possessions  so  vast  and  various, 
to  be  seen  engaging  in  a  conflict  of  biute  force  for  the  immediate  and  ex- 
clusive occupation  of  the  whole  of  Oregon !  The  annals  of  barbarism 
would  afford  no  parallel  to  such  a  scene  ! 

In  the  second  place;  sif;  there  is  the  character  of  the  titk  to  this  territory 


8 

on  both  sides.  I  shall  attempt  no  analysis  or  history  of  this  title.  I  am 
certainly  not  disposed  to  vindicate  the  British  title;  and  as  to  the  American, 
^ere  is  nothing  to  be  added  to  the  successive  expositions  of  the  eminent 
statesmen  and  diplomatists  by  whom  it  has  been  illustrated.  But,  after  all, 
what  a  title  it  is  to  fight  about !  Who  can  pretend  that  it  is  free  from  all 
difficulty  or  doubt  ?  Who  would  take  an  acre  of  land  upon  such  a  title  as 
an  investment,  without  the  warranty  of  something  more  than  the  two  r^- 
ments  of  riflemen  for  which  your  bill  provides?  Of  what  is  the  title  made 
up?  Vague  traditions  of  settlement,  musty  records  of  old  voyages,  con- 
flicting claims  of  discovery,  disputed  principles  of  public  law,  acknowledged 
violations  of  the  rights  of  aboriginal  occupants — these  are  the  elements — I 
had  almost  said  the  beggarly  elements — out  of  which  our  clear  and  indispu- 
table title  is  compounded.  I  declare  to  you,  sir,  that  as  often  as  I  thread 
the  mazes  of  this  controversy,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  a  dispute  as  to  the  rela- 
tive rights  of  two  parties  to  a  territory ,  to  which  neither  of  them  has  any 
real  right  whatever;  and  I  should  hardly  blame  the  other  nations  of  the 
world  for  insisting  on  coming  in  for  scot  and  lot  in  the  partition  of  it.  Cer- 
tainly, if  we  should  be  so  false  to  our  character  as  civilized  nations  as  to 
fight  about  it,  the  rest  of  Christendom  would  be  justified,  if  they  had  the 
power,  in  treating  us  as  we  have  always  treated  the  savage  tribes  of  our 
own  continent,  and  turning  us  both  out  altogether. 

Why,  look  at  a  single  fact  in  the  history  of  thid  controversy.  In  1818 
we  thought  our  title  to  Oregon  as  clear  and  as  unquestionable  as  we  think  it 
now.  We  proposed  then  to  divide  it  with  Great  Britain,  without  the 
slightest  reference  to  any  third  party  in  interest.  Yet  at  tliat  very  moment 
Spain  was  in  possession  of  those  rights  of  discovery,  which,  since  they  were 
transferred  to  us  by  the  treaty  of  Florida,  we  consider  as  constituting  one  of  the 
strongest  elements  in  our  whole  case.  It  is  a  most  notable  incident  that  in 
the  discussions  of  1818  not  a  word  was  said  in  regard  either  to  the  rights  of 
Spain  or  to  the  Nootka  convention.  Yet  now  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  are  found  placing  their  principal  reliance  on  these  two  sources  of  title. 
Is  there  not  enough  in  this  historical  fact  to  lead  us  to  distrust  our  own 
judgments  and  our  own  conclusions,  and  to  warn  us  of  the  danger  of  fixing 
our  views  so  exclusively  on  our  own  real  or  imagined  wants  or  interests  as 
to  overlook  the  rights  of  others? 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood,  Mr.  Speaker.  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  I  honestly  think,  upon  as  dispassionate  a  review  of  the  cor- 
respondence as  I  am  capable  of,  that  the  American  title  to  Oregon  is  the 
best  now  in  existence.  But  I  honestly  think  also  that  the  whole  character 
of  the  title  is  too  confused  and  complicated  to  justify  any  arbitrary  and  ex- 
clusive assertions  of  right,  and  that  a  compromise  of  the  question  is  every 
way  consistent  with  reason,  interest, and  honor. 

There  is  one  element  in  our  title,  however,  which  I  confess  that  I  have 
not  named,  and  to  which  I  may  not  have  done  entire  justice.  I  mean  that 
new  revelation  of  right  which  has  been  designated  as  the  right  of  our  man- 
ifest destiny  to  spread  over  this  whole  continent.  It  has  been  openly  avowed 
in  a  leading  administration  journal  that  this,  after  all,  is  our  best  and  strongest 
title;  one  so  clear,  so  pre-eminent,  and  so  indisputable,  that  if  Great  Britain 
had  all  our  other  titles  in  addition  to  her  own,  they  would  weigh  nothing 
against  it.  The  right  of  our  manifest  destiny  !  There  is  a  right  for  a  new 
Chapter  in  the  law  of  nations;  or  rather  in  the  special  laws  of  our  own  covta- 


trjr;  for  I  suppose  the  right  of  a  manifest  destiny  to  spread,  will  not  be  ad- 
mitted to  exist  in  any  nation  except  the  universal  Yankee  nation  !  This 
right  of  our  manifest  destiny,  Mr.  Speaker,  reminds  me  of  another  source  of 
tide  which  is  worthy  of  being  placed  beside  it.  Spain  and  Portugal ,  we  all 
know,  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  laid  claim  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  this  whole  northern  continent  of  America.  Francis  I.  is  related  to  have 
replied  to  this  pretension,  that  he  should  like  to  see  the  clause  in  Adam^s  Will 
in  which  their  exclusive  title  was  found.  Now,  sir,  I  look  for  an  early  re- 
production of  (his  idea.  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  due  search  be  made ,  a  copy 
of  this  primeval  instrument,  with  a  clause  giving  us  the  whole  of  Oregon  ,can 
be  somewhere  hunted  up.  Perhaps  it  may  be  found  in  that  same  Illinois 
cave  in  which  the  Mormon  Testament  has  been  discovered.  I  commend 
the  subject  to  the  attention  of  those  in  that  neighborhood,  and  will  promise 
to  withdraw  all  my  opposition  to  giving  notice  or  taking  possession,  when- 
ever the  right  of  our  manifest  destmy  can  be  fortified  by  the  provisions  of 
our  great  first  parent's  Will ! 

Mr.  Speaker,  there  is  a  third,  and,  in  my  judgment,  a  still  more  conclu- 
sive reason  for  regarding  this  question  as  one  for  negotiation  and  compro- 
mise. I  refer  to  its  history,  and  to  the  admissions  on  both  sides  which  that 
history  contains.  For  thirty  years  this  question  has  been  considered  and 
treated  as  one  not  of  title ,  but  of  boundary.  To  run  a  boimdary  line  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean — this  has  been  the  avowed  object  of  each  successive  negotiation.  It 
has  been  so  treated  by  Mr.  Monroe,  and  Mr.  Adams,  and  Mr.  Gallatin,  and 
Mr.  Rush ,  and  by  all  the  other  American  statesmen  who  have  treated  of  it  at 
all .  Offers  of  compromise  and  arrangement  have  been  repeatedly  made  on 
both  sides  on  this  basis.  Three  times  we  have  ofiTered  to  Great  Britain  to 
divide  with  her  on  the  49th  parallel  of  latitude,  and  to  give  her  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Columbia  into  the  bargain.  Mr.  Polk  and  Mr.  Buchanan  them- 
selves have  acted  upon  the  same  principle  up  to  the  moment  of  the  final 
abrupt  termination  of  the  negotiations.  They  have  offered  again  to  make 
the  49th  parallel  the  boundary  line  between  the  possessions  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  in  the  Northwestern  Territory.  With  what  face,  then, 
can  we  now  turn  round  and  declare  that  there  is  no  boundary  line  to  be  run , 
nothing  to  negotiate  about,  and  that  any  such  course  would  involve  a  ces- 
sion and  surrender  of  American  soil !  Such  a  course  would  be  an  impeach- 
ment of  the  conduct  of  the  distinguished  statesmen  whose  names  I  have 
mentioned.  It  implies  an  imputation  upon  the  present  President  of  the 
United  States  and  his  Secretary  of  State.  And,  explain  it  as  we  may,  it 
would  be  regarded  as  an  unwarrantable  and  offensive  assumption  by  the 
whole  civilized  world. 

Sir,  I  am  glad  to  perceive  that  the  language  of  the  President's  message  ia^ 
in  some  degree  conformable  to  this  view.  He  tells  us  that  the  history  of  the 
negotiation  thus  far  "affords  satisfactory  evidence,"  not  that  no  compromise 
ought  to  be  made,  but  that  "no  compromise  which  the  United  States  ought 
to  accept  can  be  effected." 

And  this  brings  me  to  another  of  my  propositions.  I  take  issue  with  tlie 
message  on  this  point.  I  deny  that  the  rejection  of  the  precise  offer  which 
was  made  to  Great  Britain  last  summer,  has  furnished  satisfactory  evidence 
that  no  compromise  which  the  United  States  ought  to  accept  can  be  eflfected. 
Certainly,  I  regret  that  Great  Britain  did  not  accept  that  offer.    Certainly ^ 


10 

I  think  that  this  question  might  fairly  be  settled  on  the  basis  of  the  49th  par- 
allel; and  I  believe  sincerely  that,  if  precipitate  and  offensive  steps  be  not  taken. 
on  our  pait,  the  question  will  ultimately  be  settled  on  that  basis.  But  there 
may  be  little  deviations  from  that  line  required  to  make  it  acceptable  to  Great 
Britain;  and,  if  so,  we  ought  not  to  hesitate  in  making  them.  I  deny  that 
the  precise  offer  of  Mr.  Buchanan  is  the  only  one  which  the  United  Statea 
ought  to  accept  for  the  sake  of  peace.  Such  a  suggestion  is  an  impeach- 
ment of  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  men  by  no  means  his  inferiors,  wha 
have  made  other  and  more  liberal  offers.  I  think  that  we  ought  to  accept  a 
compromise  at  least  as  favorable  to  Great  Britain  as  the  one  which  we  have 
tliree  times  proposed  to  her.  If  we  are  unwilling  to  give  her  the  navigation  of 
the  Columbia,  we  should  provide  some  equivalent  for  it.  If  the  question  is  to  be 
amicably  settled,  it  must  be  settled  on  temis  consistent  with  the  Iwitor  of  botlt 
parties.  And  nobody  can  imagine  that  Great  Britain  will  regard  it  as  con- 
sistent with  her  honor,  to  take  a  line  less  favorable  to  her  interests  than  that 
which  she  has  three  times  declined  within  the  last  thirty  years.  Let  me  say, 
however,  in  regard  to  the  navigation  of  the  Columlna,  that,  if  I  understand 
it  aright,  it  is  of  very  little  importance  whether  we  give  it  or  withhold  it,  as- 
the  river  is  believed  not  to  bo  navigable  at  all  where  it  is  struck  by  the  forty- 
ninth  parallel  of  latitude.  I  trust  that  we  shall  not  add  folly  to  crime,  by 
going  to  war  rather  than  yield  the  navigation  of  an  unnavigable  river. 

And  here,  sir,  I  have  a  word  to  say  in  reference  to  a  remark  made  by  the 
honorable  member  from  New  York  who  has  just  taken  his  seat,  (Mr.  Pres- 
ton King.)  I  understood  him  to  say  that  the  Administration,  in  making* 
the  offer  of  the  49th  parallel  to  Great  Britain  during  the  last  summer,  did  it 
with  the  perfect  understanding  that  it  would  be  rejected.  I  appeal  to  the 
honorable  member  to  say  whether  I  have  quoted  him  correctly. 

Mr.  P.  King.     I  said  I  had  heard  it,  and  believed  it  to  be  so. 

Mr.  WiNTHROP.  There  is  an  admission  to  which  I  wish  to  call  the  sol- 
emn attention  of  the  House  and  of  the  countiy.  1  trust  in  Heaven  that  the 
honorable  member  is  mistaken.  I  trust,  for  the  honor  of  the  country,  that 
the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affaire  will  obtain  official  autho- 
rity to  contradict  this  statement. 

Mr.  C.J.  Ingersoll.  I  will  not  wait  for  any  authority.  I  deny  it  mo«t 
unquaiificdly. 

Mr.  P.  King.  I  have  no  other  authority  on  this  subject  than  public  ru- 
mor, and  this  I  believe  to  be  correct. 

Mr.  WiNTHROP.  It  cannot  be  correct.  What  sort  of  an  Administration 
are  you  supporting,  if  you  can  believe  them  to  have  been  guilty  of  aa 
act  of  such  gross  duplicity  in  the  face  of  the  world,  in  order  to  furnish  ihem- 
selves  with  a  pretext  for  war  ?  I  would  not  have  heard  their  enemy  suggest 
such  an  idea. 

Mr.  P.  King,  (Mr.  W.  again  yiekling  the  floor  for  explanation,)  Any- 
man  of  common  sense  might  have  known  that  such  a  proposition  to  the  Bri- 
tish Government  would  be  rejected,  as  it  has  been,  without  even  being  re- 
mitted across  the  waler. 

Mr.  WiNTHROP.  Better  and  better.  I  thank  the  honorable  member  evea 
more  for  the  admission  he  has  now  made . 

Mr.  P.  King.     You  are  welcome  to  it. 

Mr.  WiNTHROP.  I  am  under  no  ptuticular  obligation  to  vindicate  the 
course  of  the  present  Administration.    But,  as  an  American  citizen,  with- 


11 


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at 
at 
e» 
1- 


lat 


out  regard  to  party,  and  with  a  single  eye  to  the  honor  of  my  country,  I. 
would  indignantly  repel  the  the  idea  that  our  Government,  in  whose  soever 
hands  it  might  be,  could  be  guilty  of  so  scandalous  and  abominable  an  act 
as  that  which  haa  now  been  imputed  to  it  by  one  of  its  peculiar  defenders. 
But  tlie  honorable  member  admits  that  any  man  of  common  sense  must 
have  understood,  that  the  minister  of  Great  Britain  would  refuse  the  offer 
which  was  thus  made ,  (hypocritically  made ,  as  he  believes ,)  and  would  refuse 
it  precisely  as  it  has  been  refused,  without  even  transmitting  it  across  the  wa- 
ter.    What,  then,  becomes  of  all  the  indignation  which  has  been  expres- 
sed and  implied  by  the  Administration  and  its  friends,  from  the  Secretary  of 
State  downwards,  at  the  rejection,  and  more  particularly  at  the  manner  of 
the  rejection,  of  that  offer?    Why,  it  seems,  after  all,  that  the  honorable 
member  and  myself  are  not  so  very  far  apart.     This  admission  of  his  is  en- 
tirely in  accordance  with  the  view  which  I  have  already  expressed ,  that  if 
any  compromise  whatever  was  to  be  made,  (and  I  rejoice  to  find  tliat  even 
the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs  has  this  morning  empha- 
tically denominated  himself  a  compromiser^  the  rejection  of  this  precise  of- 
fer does  not  authorize  us  to  leap  at  once  to  the  conclusion,  thaf  no  compro- 
mise which  the  United  States  ought  to  accept  can  be  effected."     If  our 
Government  has  thus  far  made  no  offer,  except  one  which  "any  man  of 
common  sense  might  have  known  would  be  rejected  precisely  as  it  has- 
been,"  I  trust  it  will  bethink  itself  of  making  another  hereafter,  which  will 
afford  to  Great  Britain  a  less  reasonable  pretext  for  so  summary  a  proceeding- 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  it  is  certainly  possible  that,  with  the  best  intentions  on 
both  sides  of  the  water,  all  efforts  at  negotiating  a  compromise  may  fail.  It 
may  turn  out  hereafter,  though  1  deny  that  it  is  yet  proved,  that  no  com- 
promise which  the  United  States  ouglit  to  accept  can  be  effected.  What 
then?  Is  there  no  resort  but  war?  Yes,  yes;  there  is  still  another  easy 
and  obvious  mode  of  averting  that  fearful  alternative.  I  mean  arbitration; 
a  resort  so  reasonable,  so  just,  so  conformable  to  the  principles  which  gov- 
ern us  in  our  daily  domestic  afliiirs,  so  conformable  to  the  spirit  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christianity,  that  no  man  will  venture  to  say  one  word  against  it 
in  the  abstract.  But  then  wc  can  find  no  impartial  arbiter,  say  gentlemen; 
and,  therefore,  we  will  have  no  arbitration.  Our  title  is  so  clear  and  so  in- 
disputable that  wc  can  find  nobody  in  tlie  wide  world  impartial  enough  to 
give  it  a  fair  consideration  ! 

Sir,  this  is  a  most  unworthy  pretence;  unworthy  of  us,  and  offensive  to 
all  mankind.  It  is  doing  injustice  to  our  own  case  and  to  our  own  charac- 
ter, to  assume  that  all  the  world  are  prejudiced  against  us.  Nothing  but  a 
consciousness  of  having  given  cause  for  such  a  state  of  feeling,  could  have 
suggested  its  existence.  The  day  has  been  when  we  could  hold  up  our 
heads  and  appeal  confidently,  not  merely  for  justice,  but  for  sympathy  and 
succor,  if  they  were  needed,  to  more  than  one  gallant  and  generous  nation. 
We  may  do  so  again,  if  we  will  not  wantonly  outrage  the  feelings  of  tlie 
civilized  world.  For  myself,  there  is  no  monarch  in  Europe  to  whom  I 
should  fear  to  submit  this  question.  The  King  of  France,  the  King  of 
Prussia,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  cither  of  them  would  bring  to  it  intelli- 
gence, impartiality,  and  ability.  But,  if  there  1i>e  a  jealousy  of  crowned 
heads,  why  not  propose  a  commission  of  civilians?  If  you  will  put  no 
trust  in  prmccs,  there  are  profound  jurists,  accomplished  historians,  men  of 
learning,  philosophy  ^  uad  science;  on  both  sides  of  the  water,  from  whom  a 


12 


tribunal  might  be  constituted ,  whose  decision  upon  any  question  would 
command  universal  confidence  and  respect.  The  venerable  Gallatin,  (to 
name  no  other  American  name.)  to  whose  original  exposition  of  this  quee- 
*ion  we  owe  almost  all  that  is  valuable  in  the  papers  by  which  our  title  has 
since  been  enforced,  would  add  the  crowning  grace  to  his  long  life  of  pa- 
triotic service,  by  representing  his  country  once  more  in  a  tribunal  to  which 
her  honor,  her  interests,  and  her  peace  might  safely  be  entrusted.  At  any 
rate,  let  us  not  reject  the  idea  of  arbitration  in  the  abstract;  and,  if  the  terms 
cannot  be  agreed  upon  afterwards,  we  shall  have  some  sort  of  apology  for  not 
submitting  to  it.  General  Jackson ,  sir,  did  not  regard  arbitration  as  a  measure 
unfit  either  for  him  or  his  country  to  adopt.  Indeed,  it  is  well  understood 
that  he  was  so  indignant  at  the  King  of  Holland's  line  not  being  accepted 
by  us,  that  he  declined  to  take  any  further  steps  on  the  subject  of  the  North- 
eastern boundary. 

I  cannot  but  regret,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  President,  in  making  up  an 
issue  before  the  civilized  world ,  upon  which  he  claims  to  be  relieved  from 
all  responsibility  which  may  follow  the  failure  to  settle  this  question ,  has 
omitted  all  allusion  to  the  fact  that  arbitration  on  this  subject  of  Oregon  has 
been  once  solemnly  tendered  to  us  by  Great  Britain.  1  am  willing,  how- 
ever, to  put  the  very  best  construction  on  this  omission  of  which  it  is  sus- 
ceptible, and  to  believe  that  the  President  desired  to  leave  himself  still  un- 
committed upon  the  point.  Without  some  such  explanation ,  it  certainly 
has  a  most  unfortunate  and  disingenuous  look.  This  omitted  fact  is, indeed, 
enough  to  turn  the  scale  of  tlie  public  judgment  upon  the  whole  issue. 
Arbitration  offered  by  Great  Britain, and  perseveringly  rejected  by  us,  leaves 
the  responsibility  for  the  preservation  of  peace  upon  our  own  shoulders. 
The  Administration  cannot  escape  from  the  burden  of  that  responsibility. 
And  a  fearful  responsibility  it  is,  both  to  man  and  to  God  ! 

Before  concluding  my  remarks, as  the  clock  admonishes  me  I  soon  must, 
I  desir«  to  revert  to  one  or  two  points  to  which  I  alluded  briefly  at  the  out- 
let. I  have  already  declared  myself  opposed  to  the  views  of  iny  honorable 
colleague,  (Mr.  Adams,)  as  to  giving  the  notice  to  Great  Britain.  I  honestly 
beheve  that  the  termination  of  that  convention  of  joint  occupation ,  (I  call  it 
by  this  name  for  convenience,  not  perceiving  that  it  makes  any  material  dif- 
ference as  to  the  real  questions  before  us,)  at  this  moment,  under  existing 
circumstances,  and  with  the  view,  which  niy  honorable  colleague  has  ex- 
pressed, of  following  it  up  by  the  immediate  occupation  of  the  whole  of 
Oregon,  would  almost  unavoidably  terminate  in  war.  I  see  no  probable, 
and  hardly  any  possible,  escape  from  such  a  consequence.  And^to  what  end 
are  we  to  involve  our  country  in  such  a  calamity  ?  I  appeal  to  my  honor- 
able colleague,  and  to  every  member  on  this  floor,  to  tell  me  what  particu- 
lar advantage  is  to  be  derived  from  giving  this  notice  and  terminating  thin 
convention  at  this  precise  moment,  and  in  advance  of  any  an)icable  adjust- 
ment. The  honorable  member  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  C.J.  Ingersoll) 
has  said  that  this  convention  is  the  own  child  of  my  honorable  colleague. 
It  has  been  twice  established  under  his  auspices,  and  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  statesmen  as  patriotic  and  discriminating  as  any  who  now  hold 
the  helm  of  our  Govemmem.  What  evil  has  it  done?  What  evil  is  it 
now  doing  ? 

The  honorable  member  from  Pennsylvania  has  given  us  a  rich  descrip- 
tion of  the  rapid  influx  of  population  into  that  territory.     He  has  presented 


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13 

us  with  a  lively  picture  of  I  know  not  how  many  thousand  women  and 
children  ou  their  winding  way  to  this  promised  land  beyond  the  mountains. 
Let  tliem  go.  God  speed  them!  There  is  nothing  in  the  terms  of  this 
convention  which  impedes  their  passive,  nor  any  thing  which  prevents  us 
from  throwing  over  them  the  protection  of  a  limited  Territorial  Government. 
I  am  ready  to  go  as  far  as  Great  Britain  has  gone  in  establishing  our  juris- 
diction tliere;  and  no  interest,  either  of  those  who  are  going  there,  or  of 
those  who  are  staying  here,  calls  on  us  to  go  further  at  present.  The  best 
interests  of  both  parties,  on  the  contrary ,  forbid  any  such  proceeding.  Gen- 
demen  talk  about  following  up  this  notice  by  taking  immediate  possession 
of  the  territory.  This  is  sooner  said  than  done.  What  if  Great  Britain 
sliould  happen  to  get  the  start  of  us  in  that  proceeding?  Such  a  thing  would 
not  be  matter  of  very  great  astonishment  to  those  who  remember  her  celerity 
in  such  movements,  and  her  power  to  sustain  them  when  once  made.  Where 
should  we  be  ihen  ?    Would  there  be  no  war? 

And  what  would  be  the  consequences  of  a  war  under  such  circumstances; 
the  consequences,  not  upon  cotton  or  upon  commerce,  not  upon  Boston,  or 
Charleston,  or  New  York,  but  what  would  be  the  consequences  so  far  merely 
as  Oregon  itself  is  concerned?  The  cry  is  now  ''  the  whole  of  Oregon  or 
none,"  and  echo  would  answer,  under  such  circumstances,  "  none/"  I 
see  not  how  any  man  in  his  senses  can  resist  the  conviction,  that,  whatever 
compensation  we  might  console  ourselves  with,  by  a  cut  out  of  Canada,  or 
by  the  whole  of  Canada — that  under  whatever  circumstances  of  success  we 
might  carry  on  the  war  in  other  quarters  of  the  world  or  of  our  own  continent, 
the  adoption  of  such  a  course  would  result  in  the  immediate  loss  of  the 
whole  of  the  territory  in  dispute.     This,  at  least,  is  my  own  honest  opinion. 

As  a  friend,  then,  to  Oregon,  with  every  disposition  to  maintain  our  just 
rights  to  that  territory,  with  the  most  sincere  desire  to  see  that  territory  in 
Uie  posession  of  such  of  our  own  people  as  desire  to  occupy  it — ^whether 
hereafter  as  an  independent  nation ,  as  was  originally  suggested  by  a  distin- 
guished Senator  from  Missouri,  (Mr.  Benton,)  and  more  recently  by  a  no 
less  distinguished  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  (Mr.  Webster,)  or  as  a  por- 
tion of  our  own  wide-spread  and  glorious  Republic — I  am  opposed  to  the 
steps  which  are  now  about  to  be  so  hotly  pursued. 

Sir,  I  feel  that  I  have  n  right  to  express  something  more  than  an  ordinary 
interest  in  this  matter.  There  is  no  better  element  in  our  title  to  Oregon 
than  that  which  has  been  contributed  by  Boston  enterprise.  You  may  talk 
about  the  old  navigators  of  Spain,  and  the  Florida  treaty,  and  the  settle- 
ment at  Astoria,  and  the  survey  of  Lewis  and  Clarke ,  as  much  as  you  please, 
but  you  all  come  back,  for  your  best  satisfaction,  to  "  Auld  Robin  Gray"  in 
tlieend.  Captain  Robert  Gray,  of  Boston,  in  the  good  ship  Columbia, 
gave  you  your  earliest  right  of  foothold  upon  that  soil. 

I  have  seen,  within  a  few  months  past,  the  last  survivor  of  his  hardy- 
crew,  still  living  in  a  green  old  age,  and  exhibiting  with  pride  a  few  origi- 
nal sketches  of  some  of  the  scenes  of  that  now  memorable  voyage.  My  con- 
stituents all  feel  some  pride  in  their  connexion  with  the  title  to  this  territory. 
But  in  their  name  I  protest  against  the  result  of  their  peaceful  enterprise 
being  turned  to  the  account  of  an  unnecessary  and  destructive  war.  I  pro- 
test against  the  pure  current  of  the  river  which  they  discovered,  and  to  which 
their  ship  has  given  its  noble  name,  being  wantonly  stained  with  either 
American  or  British  blood  ! 


14 

But  while  I  am  thus  opposed  to  war  for  Oregon,  or  to  any  measures  which, 
jn  my  judgment,  are  likely  to  lead  to  war,  I  shall  withhold  no  vote  from 
any  measure  which  the  friends  of  the  Administration  may  bring  forward  for 
<he  defence  of  the  country.  Whether  the  bill  be  for  two  regiments  or  for 
twenty  regiments,  it  shall  pass  for  all  me.  To  the  last  file,  to  the  uttermost 
farthing,  which  they  may  require  of  us,  they  shall  have  men  and  money 
for  the  public  protection.  But  tlie  responsibility  for  bringing  about  such  a 
jstate  of  things  shall  be  theirs,  and  theirs  only.  They  can  prevent  it  if 
-they  please.  The  Peace  of  the  country  and  the  Honor  of  the  country  are 
jstill  entirely  compatible  with  each  other.  The  Oregon  question  is  still  per- 
fectly susceptible  of  an  amicable  adjustment,  and  I  rejoice  to  believe  that  it 
may  etill  be  so  adjusted.  We  hnve  had  omens  of  peace  in  the  other  end  of 
the  Capitol,  if  none  in  this.  But,  if  wjir  comes,  the  AdminisU-ation  must 
lake  the  responsibility  for  all  its  guilt  and  all  its  disgrace. 


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The  resolutions  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  speech ,  and  which  were  of- 
fered by  Mr.  Winthrop  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  19th  of 
December  last,  were  as  follows: 

Sesolved,  That  the  differences  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  on  the  subject  of 
the  Oregon  Territory,  are  still  a  fit  subject  for  negotiation  and  compromise,  and  that  satisfactory 
evidence  has  not  yet  been  afforded  that  n  '  ompromise  which  the  United  States  ought  to  accept 
can  be  effected. 

Resolved,  That  it  would  be  a  dishonor  to  the  age  in  which  we  live,  and  in  the  highest  degree 
discreditable  to  both  the  nations  concerned,  if  they  should  suffer  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  a 
war,  upon  a  question  of  no  immediate  or  practical  interrst  to  either  of  them. 

Resolved,  Tliat  if  no  other  mode  for  the  amicable  adjustment  of  this  question  remains,  it  ia 
due  to  the  principles  of  civilization  and  Christianity  that  a  resort  to  arbitration  should  be  had ; 
and  that  this  Government  cannot  relieve  itself  from  all  responsibility  which  may  follow  the  fail- 
ure to  settle  the  controversy,  while  this  resort  is  still  untried. 

Resolved,  That  arbitration  does  not  necessarily  involve  a  reference  to  crowned  heads;  and 
that,  if  a  jealousy  of  such  a  reference  is  entertained  in  any  quarter,  a  commission  of  able  and 
dispassionate  citizens,  either  from  the  two  countries  concerned  or  from  the  world  at  large,  offers 
itself  as  an  obvious  and  unobjectionable  alternative. 


'p:   ■  «•■.* 


